Handbook Gives Waitresses Tips On Their Legal Rights

When Gretchen Williams, the first female stevedore hired to work on the docks of Los Angeles Harbor, was asked how she could possibly do the hard work of lifting and hauling, she replied:

``It`s easy for me. I used to be a waitress. The work was harder and the pay lower.``

The stevedore is not alone in her assessment of the hard work, physical and mental, required of a waitress. The Women`s Legal Defense Fund in Washington thinks a realistic ad for waitresses should read like this:

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 1985 1,367,000 people were waiting on tables full time. Eighty-six percent of them were female; only 5 percent were black.

In 1984, waiters were paid an average of $237 a week; waitresses were paid $168.

Despite the negatives, many women like waiting on tables.

``I enjoy being a waitress,`` said one woman who`s been a waitress five years. ``I get a lot of satisfaction out of being the one person who can bring all the loose ends together and make them work to the customer`s satisfaction. ``But it`s always a hassle. I am a service object to the customers. They feel that because they have a table, they also have a license to treat me any way they please.``

She takes the ``hassle`` because she needs the money. And she`s not alone.

``Before I began to make a living as an actress, I was a waitress,`` said Rhea Perlman, who plays waitress Carla Tortelli on the television show

``Cheers.``

``I know how hard waitresses work, how many skills are involved and how little recognition they get. . . . Some changes in the profession are long overdue.``

Perlman makes her comments in the introduction to a book that could make a difference for waitresses, many of whom are deciding they no longer have to stand and wait.

The book is ``The Waitresses Handbook: A guide to the legal rights of waitresses and other restaurant workers.``

It`s published by the Women`s Legal Defense Fund in cooperation with the Coalition of Labor Union Women, D.C. chapter; D.C. Area Feminist Alliance;

Hotel and Restaurant Employees, Local 25; National Commission on Working Women; Women`s Rights Clinic of Antioch Law School and--most importantly

-- waitresses.

The book says restaurant workers are often looked down on as menial servants.

``The most damaging result is that it keeps waitresses feeling they have no control over the working conditions. . . . For women, the problems are multiplied,`` the authors point out.

But there are ways to fight, and one is to know your rights. Knowing them is not the same as enforcing them, but knowledge can be power.

Legal rights are of primary importance. Sex discrimination is illegal. So is sexual harassment.

``Sexual harassment is so common that many women accept it as part of a day`s work. They don`t realize it`s against the law,`` the authors say.

``Sexual harassment can range from a suggestive look, a dirty joke, a pinch or pat, or even rape.``

Being required to wear suggestive or revealing uniforms also may be a form of sexual harassment. So is verbal abuse or unwanted physical contact from coworkers and customers.

Another legal fact: Discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions is against the law. So are wage, age and race discrimination.

Wages are another area of concern. Federal wage laws require workers be paid a minimum of $3.35 an hour. Employers are, however, allowed to apply a

``tip credit`` to the hourly wage rate of employees who receive tips, which may reduce the hourly rate to an amount below the minimum wage.

Here`s how it works: The law says employers may deduct up to 40 percent of $3.35 as a tip credit. That brings you down to $2.01 an hour. The theory is that a portion of the tips waitresses receive should go to make up the minimum wage.

If you don`t make it, the employer is legally required to make up the difference, so you earn the minimum wage. Employers are required to keep tip records, and employees have the right to see them.

Other areas covered in the handbook are work place health and safety, worker`s compensation, unemployment insurance, immigration law for restaurant workers, getting workers together on the job and unionizing.

The book is available for $7 from the Women`s Legal Defense Fund, 2000 P St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20036.